The 2011 Chilli growing thread - it's scorching!

SkeeterUK · 16 Mar 2011 at 21:08

The seeds from paper towel method.

They have germinated today.

I started em in paper towel method i think around about the 10th of march. So it has taken them about 9-10 days roughly to germinate them.

Pic of em germinated and a pic of them in a small squared pot to grow a bit in till i get some new small pots as just had the one small one left. Their in the corners i put 4 in the small pot.

The paper was bone dry when i checked tonite, maybe thats why they germed as i had heating on for awhile today and with the propagator it was probably around 28c im guessing plus i placed the paper towel with seeds in under a pot in prop to where the heat was on the prop as before i just had it on side of inside of prop to get warm.

Concrete · 17 Mar 2011 at 09:02

Ok, so my over wintered plants have decided that now is a really awesome time to go into full flowering mode, any way of discouraging them? (They have sod all leaves, just loads of full size flowers).

Glaucus · 18 Mar 2011 at 20:29

Do chillis need darkness? so far I have left the lights on 24/7. Wondering if I should put teh timer in and do something like 18hrs.

SkeeterUK · 18 Mar 2011 at 20:35

No sun or light when seeds, just when they have leaves is when they need the sun/light.

No need for 24/7 at all. 12/12 is to force fruiting usually and 18/6 is when u want it to veg a bit i.e grow.

topgun06 · 18 Mar 2011 at 20:37

AcidHell2 said:
Do chillis need darkness? so far I have left the lights on 24/7. Wondering if I should put teh timer in and do something like 18hrs.

Not sure about chillies without doing any research. I've heard that 18 hours light is whats recommended though... I think.

But pretty sure plants do react to the dark though. For example some plants will only flower if the amount of daylight is greater than the amount of darkness.

Might be similar for chillies?

Mercenary Keyboard Warrior · 18 Mar 2011 at 20:39

All i have ever read is that plants as a living organism need downtime like us, animals etc.
So 18 hours is max amount of sunlight per day.

Give the little blighters a break

SkeeterUK · 18 Mar 2011 at 20:42

All plants need darkness as thats when they put effort into roots.

Glaucus · 18 Mar 2011 at 21:23

Thanks turned the lights off, will fit the timer tomorrow.

SkeeterUK · 23 Mar 2011 at 15:26

I love this heated propagator. Its mint how good it is defo worth its money.

Had apache seeds in unheated one in boiler cupboard for over a week and nothing. Put em in heated one on windowsill and 4 days later (ones on right 5x apache seeds) have germed and got leaves on.

My Early Jalapenos are coming on ok too. 4x of em. (one, the 5th, is in heated prop which just coming out now )

And saved seeds from last year their either a bell pepper or the jumbo bell pepper.

And my other stuff which isnt chilli related are doing fine too.

Also my jumbo bell pepper from last year is regrowing and im pretty sure its trying to do fruit already lol. Im thinking pick the buds off to encourage growth of branches perhaps.

topgun06 · 23 Mar 2011 at 15:55

Looks good ^^

I'll take some pics later with an update. The Cayennes are coming on very well. The scotch bonnets are growing rather slowly. One died the other day too...

On a side note... I've got some courgettes on the go, first time I've grown them and they're monsters already! Tomatoes and the aubergines are coming on well too!

topgun06 · 24 Mar 2011 at 20:34

Finally sorted the pics out:

Chillies. The back three Cayennes are doing pretty well. The front three (Scotch Bonnets) seems to be struggling a little. The one on the left is still a scrawny bugger... not changed from the pic I took on the previous page. The other two seem to be progressing, slowly.

As mentioned in my post above, we have tomatoes:

And monstrous courgettes:

arknor · 24 Mar 2011 at 20:38

what variety of tomatoes are you growing? i did gardeners delight last year and decided to do another this year but wishing i bought some millions or something that gives loads of little tomatoes

topgun06 · 24 Mar 2011 at 21:12

They are Alicante tomatoes. But I think I have the same feeling as you in that I wish I had chosen another variety that gives small ones, nevermind!

Planning on doing some tomato and chilli chutney eventually.

SkeeterUK · 24 Mar 2011 at 21:32

I did sweet million last year it didnt have the big trusses on that i was led to believe. I think you need to be really good at gardening to pull off what you see on the packet or on the web sometimes.

This year im growing Heirloom tomatoes and some non heirlooms.

Cherokee Purple x3
Pink Brandywine x5
Gardeners Delight x2
Tumbling toms x2
Micro toms x5 (worried as not popped up yet)

Its not too late to get a cherry type. B&Q and nurserys get plants in in April/May and their not that pricey sometimes.

topgun06 · 24 Mar 2011 at 22:17

Yeah there's still time but I'm worried about running out of space

Just had a quick look at micro toms... are they a bush variety? They would be ideal, I could just stick it in a pot and wont have to mess around with staking it up in the greenhouse.

SkeeterUK · 24 Mar 2011 at 22:19

Yeah bush, they dont go bigger than a foot and do about 20 toms which is half the amount that is advertised as i cant see them doing 40 toms on em.

lotus7 · 25 Mar 2011 at 08:51

I started germinating seeds at the beginning of February, about a month earlier than I normally do. This is the first year I have tried hot cherry, and it's doing really well in last weeks sunshine, I have never had flowers in March before.

Flowering hot cherry.

left to right, Ring of Fire, Naga Morich, Amber Explosive, Hot Cherry, Hot Cherry, Ring of Fire

The two big pots have Naga Morich, the smaller blue in the corner is Chocolate habanero.

Another Chocolate Habanero and a Hot Cherry Seedling.

Some Chocolate Habaneros in the Aerogarden, I used this to start the naga seeds as well.

topgun06 · 25 Mar 2011 at 09:17

Woahh nice results! What on earth have you been feeeding them :eek:

BTW, the sprayer you use is crap! Mine broke after round 10 sprays

Glaucus · 28 Mar 2011 at 18:15

need some help, they really haven;t done a lot over the last two weeks, Some have curled there leafs up and ones collapsed like it's a lack of water but it isn't, another has shed it's two biggest leaves. I've just repotted them, but is there another problem, too much light/heat or something else. about 28c during day and absolute min of 16 at night.

2 x curry

3 x Hot cherry

1 x Morich

SkeeterUK · 28 Mar 2011 at 22:42

Pots far too large i think to have em in at such a young age imo, should have waited till more leaves were on imo. When you repot btw there will be a shock and do look like there not doing good but should recover in 24-48hrs or so.

--

Btw, went to car boot fair on sunday had loads of seeds from quality seed places. 4 for a quid which is good as some pkts were like £2 odd. Saw some chillies like cayenne (sp) and sweet peppers and some others. So maybe check out a local car boot fair for seeds next time you want some?